Living Faith

“Living Faith” refers both to living one’s faith and to the aliveness of that faith … its presence and practicality. Some people believe that to live one’s faith means to obey a set of rules set down by their faith tradition. That’s not the concept of “living faith” that I’m talking about. First, since we don’t have dogma there are no rules to follow. A distinct and powerful element of our teaching is that we are imbued with volition … we are choice making creatures. We get to decide what we will do and not do, what meaning we will give to or extract from circumstances, whether we will be controlled by circumstances or choose how we will engage with circumstances. Oh, and by the way, we get to choose how we deal with the consequences of our choices: we can be a student of them or claim to be the victim of them until we awaken to how victimhood equates to powerlessness. As the student of our consequences we are empowered to make new choices … choices that generate desirable consequences. Wow! It’s all about staying awake, opening to new ways of perceiving, discerning and making decisions.

Because we are “dogma-less” to live our faith calls us to remember what we are – each an incarnation of the Divine – and to live accordingly. When we consciously remember what we are, it’s not difficult to stay awake in order to treat all of creation (ALL not just the parts we like) with unconditional high regard … to express loving kindness, or as Jesus guided us, to live the first two commandments, “Love God above all else and Love our neighbor as ourselves.” Some people fall asleep, go numb and slip into complacency. Some claim it’s simply not practical to really apply those practices in the world the way it is. I contend that the world is never going to be any different unless each one of us does exactly that. It is by living our faith, putting it to practical use, we can experiment with new ways of expressing ourselves. It was Einstein who declared that the definition of insanity is to keep repeating the same behavior and expect a different outcome.

There’s a very interesting correlation: people with high self-worth tend to be deeply grounded in their faith so it is no surprise that people with high self-worth are more adaptive when change comes, more trusting, more willing to lean wholeheartedly into new possibilities. These demonstrations of resiliency are directly related to how consistently they live their faith. Faith is a numinous experience, that is, it is not dependent on external validation. It comes from within, from Spirit within and is known without the benefit of the five senses. It is the “ground of being” that is irrefutable.

Faith of this strength is the out-picturing of your divine nature which makes divine attributes available to you. You, like all of creation, are an expression of the Divine. As Jesus said, “it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” and the gift has already been given. It is in you, as you! Your experience of it requires that you open, in faith, and draw more of It into your life experience. It is up to you! There are two little words that can make an immediate difference in your life. They are: Start Now! Start now to live your truth. If it feels a little shaky because circumstances try to cloud your thoughts, live “as though” you are an incarnation of God and soon you will find that you are living the Truth: You are a spiritual human being … an activity of God … living in faith with grace and ease.

Namasté … Rev Trish

This entry was posted in Latest News, Ministers Musings on August 19, 2016 by CSL Metro.